In This Issue...
Legislative and Regulatory Updates:
2018 State of the U.S. Artisan & Specialty Cheese Industry Survey
Key Food Safety Offerings at ACS 2018: Forged in Cheese
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On June 21, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin introduced legislation to support dairy product innovation and provide resources to help cheesemakers and other dairy businesses get their start, develop new products, and expand markets.
The Dairy Business Innovation Act would establish regional initiatives to spur innovation in dairy businesses, which can help add more value to the milk farmers produce and expand uses for milk to address oversupply and depressed milk prices. The legislation will also foster the development of new and innovative dairy products, modernize existing dairy plants, and support new dairy entrepreneurs.
The regional initiatives created by the legislation would provide technical assistance and grants for the purpose of:
- Supporting new and expanding dairy businesses: Initiatives would provide assistance with business plan development, accounting, market evaluation, and strategic planning.
- Promoting innovation in dairy products: Dairy businesses could get assistance with product innovation, marketing and branding, packaging, distribution, supply chain innovation, food safety training and consultation, and dairy product production training.
- Assisting with dairy plant modernization and process improvement: Dairy businesses could get assistance with processing facility improvement, including assistance with plant upgrades, food safety modernization, energy and water efficiency, byproduct reprocessing and use maximization, and waste treatment.
In an announcement from Senator Baldwin's office about the Act, ACS Executive Director Nora Weiser stated, "The number of dairy farms in the United States has declined by nearly 98% since 1950"..."ACS values the hard work of cheesemakers, and recognizes that artisan and specialty cheeses are an important economic driver supporting struggling dairy farms in rural communities across the United States. These products can play a critical role in keeping American dairy farmers in business, and these producers need support in order to innovate and thrive."
More information about the Dairy Business Innovation Act is available
here
.
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2018 State of the U.S. Artisan & Specialty Cheese Industry Survey
Our research team from the University of Missouri recently distributed ACS's 2018 State of the U.S. Artisan & Specialty Cheese Industry survey to U.S.-based cheesemakers. If you are an artisan, farmstead, or specialty cheese producer, we hope you will take the time to participate in this important research study. This is the second survey conducted by ACS; the first survey was completed in 2016. Your responses to this year's survey will help ACS identify trends and guide benchmarking, policy recommendations, and advocacy for the industry.
If you received an invitation to participate in the survey via mail or email, we hope you will complete it as soon as possible. It should take no more than 30 minutes to complete. If you have not received a survey invitation, please contact ACS and we will ensure that the survey is sent to you.
We appreciate your time in completing the survey. It is through the participation of producers that we can gain critical knowledge to help support the industry!
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- Current targeted sampling and testing of blue cheese.
- Labeling issues in regards to terms such as "natural" and "healthy," and current voluntary guidelines for sodium reduction.
- Use of wood boards in cheesemaking.
- Non-toxigenic E. coli as an indicator of pathogen contamination.
- FDA's efforts to update and expand Standards of Identity (SOI).
ACS also shared updates on its efforts to proactively enhance cheese safety throughout the industry.
Fore more information about the topics covered at this meeting, please review our May Member Update.
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ACS has heard that the use of ash in cheesemaking is of concern for some members importing cheese. We would like to
encourage Domestic producer members to review Chapter 6 of the ACS Best Practices Guide for Cheesemakers, which states:
"Vegetable ash is a traditional product used for ripening of cheeses. Cheesemakers should remember that ash must be used and appropriately labeled as an aging/processing agent and not as a food additive. Ash decreases the acidity of the cheese and allows desired white molds to develop earlier in the aging process. According to the FDA under 21 CFR 101.100, processing aids are "[s]ubstances that are added to a food for their technical or functional effect in the processing but are present in the finished food at insignificant levels and do not have any technical or functional effect in that food." Under the current labeling rules, processing aids do not need to be included in the list of ingredients. Speak with your ingredients supplier to ask if they provide ash for ripening that is GRAS-approved ("Generally Regarded As Safe"). Products are regularly under review and approval."
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FDA Announces Public Meeting to Discuss Nutrition Innovation Strategy Implementation
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is hosting a
public meeting
on July 26
from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hotel (1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852) to discuss the agency's Nutrition Innovation Strategy. The 1-day meeting will provide stakeholders and other interested persons an opportunity to have an in-depth discussion on various aspects of the FDA Nutrition Innovation Strategy and to provide input on ways to modernize FDA's approach to better protect public health while removing barriers to industry innovation. The meeting will include introductory presentations, panels, oral presentations by participants, as well as breakout sessions.
FDA has identified several areas where it believes there are opportunities to improve its approach to nutrition policy, by encouraging industry innovation to improve the nutrition and healthfulness of food and by providing consumers with informative food labeling to make healthy food choices. These tactics include the following:
- developing a standard icon or symbol for the claim "healthy;"
- a more efficient review strategy for the FDA to employ when evaluating qualified health claims;
- allowing for labeling statements or claims on food products that could facilitate innovation to promote healthful eating patterns;
- approaches for modernizing standards of identity;
- possible changes that could make ingredient information more consumer friendly;
- and implementing the FDA's educational campaign for consumers about the updated Nutrition Facts Label that consumers will be seeing in the marketplace.
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FDA to Update ACS Stakeholders in Pittsburgh
At noon on Friday, July 27, ACS Conference attendees are encouraged to head to the Spirit of Pittsburgh Ballroom at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA to hear an update on regulatory issues affecting the artisan cheese industry.
Douglas Stearn
, Deputy Director for Regulatory Affairs at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, will share insights and updates on topics of relevance to ACS members, including:
- The SCOPE process for FDA's annual budgeting, including how certain food products are selected each year for small sampling studies, and how this differs from Assignments.
- An update on the current pause in non-toxigenic E. coli testing and FDA's direction and next steps.
- A recap of what documents and procedures all producers need to have on-hand for inspections under FSMA, and what they can expect from these inspections.
- FDA's new Data Dashboard: what it is and how to use it.
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Build Your Food Safety Plan: Deep Dive & Coaching
September 17 marks the deadline for all food production facilities, including those classified as Very Small Businesses, to have a written food safety plan in place. Inspectors will be following FSMA inspection procedures, which include asking manufacturers to produce the written plans, and asking questions to ensure that the plans are meaningful and are being followed by plant employees.
If you don't have a written food safety plan in place, if you need some work on your plan, or if you just want to get some pointers from experts to validate your plan, then don't miss an important full day session in Pittsburgh, PA on Wednesday, July 25: Build Your Food Safety Plan: Deep Dive & Coaching is a valuable workshop whether you already have, are currently developing, or are just preparing to create, a Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)-compliant, preventive control (PC)-based, food safety plan for your facility. This full-day workshop will get you across the finish line with a plan in hand-all just in time for FSMA's September deadline.
The workshop is structured to provide an overview of the basic concepts of the food safety plan: preliminary documentation, hazard analysis, and preventive controls (process, allergen, sanitation, and supply chain). Experts will provide one-on-one coaching to help you develop the necessary documentation for each of those areas. The coaches all have Preventive Control Qualified Individual (PCQI) experience, and are on hand to answer questions and to help you deep dive into your food safety plan. Templates (digital and paper) will be provided to facilitate plan development, but attendees are strongly encouraged to bring along their current or in-progress plans.
Just a few spots are still available for this session. Registration is offered at the deeply discounted rate of $49 through subsidization by a United States Department of Agriculture National Institute for Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) grant. It is based on two-day session developed by Cornell University in collaboration with the University of Connecticut, North Carolina State University, and the Innovation Center for US Dairy. The unsubsidized version of the course costs over $600.
This course may be added on to your 2018 ACS Conference registration, or you may attend only this course if you wish. Contact the ACS office at 720-328-2788 to register, or for more information.
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